Beauty in Regents Park

I popped into London’s Regents Park this week and took some photographs. One of the blooms that really caught my eye was the wisteria in Queen Mary’s Garden which had the cascading waterfall behind it: I also liked the ferns – I think I’m more aware of their graphic quality now having seen Karl Blossfeldt’s … Read more

New project: Changing Views

I’ve been photographing a particular view – the view out my  kitchen window – for the past six months. I started in mid October 2016, at the height of Autumn. Here are a few of images from the project: Check out the Changing Views project here:  

Japan: tradition and modernity in popular culture

I recently saw an advert on the London Underground from the Japan National Tourism Organisation who have launched a campaign entitled Japan – where tradition meets the future and it reminded me that I’d been meaning for a while to write a post on this very theme. I wanted to examine this theme using images … Read more

The Darling Buds of … March

Here are a few pictures I took this week at Kew Gardens. It was a very cold but very bright day. The magnolia trees were particularly striking to me and in various stages of flowering. I like the long fuchsia and purple buds:   There were pretty trees in full bloom. I think I must … Read more

Venice Carnival Part 2: Coriandoli, abstracts and fleeting moments

The first part of my tribute to this year’s Venice Carnival concentrated on images of masquerade and fancy dress. In this second part I focus on found street abstracts featuring coriandoli, Italian for confetti, a traditional decorative feature of the Venetian carnival. The pavements and squares are strewn with it. Here’s a picture of my … Read more

Purim 1984 in Hendon

I’ve been sorting through boxes of old photographs and came across a series of images I took back in 1984 when I was in my 20s. I had decided to revisit my old primary school, Hasmonean on Shirehall Lane, Hendon. It was and still is a small Jewish primary school, established in 1947. My purpose … Read more

Graffiti and (multilingual) exclamations of love

This time last year I wrote a Valentine’s Day themed piece on Seeing hearts everywhere  illustrated with a variety of images that either contain or suggest the heart motif. This post is about graffiti and exclamations and expressions of love, and features  a selection of digital photographs I’ve taken from 2005 to the present. Back in 2004 … Read more

London’s Afro Cuban Night and Travels with Percussion

The first Tuesday of every month sees London’s Afro Cuban Music Night, run by musicians Vicky Jassey and David Pattman of Bombo Arts. I’ve written several posts about this night, but not since last summer so I thought I’d update with some pictures I’ve taken in the last few months.  The evening consists of two … Read more

Charlie Chaplin: iconography and the immigrant

I’ve just started reading Confabulations by John Berger, who died earlier in January this year.  Recently I’ve been reading almost exclusively on my Kindle (in a space-saving Marie Kondo-like spirit) but I decided to buy a hard copy of the book – it’s small, portable with a good-sized font, and illustrated with colour photographs and … Read more

Light and Love: a personal take on decorative lights

Today is the last day of the Jewish festival of light, Chanukah, (sometimes spelled Hannukah) which lasts 8 days and which this year coincided with Christmas. The Hebrew calendar is based on lunar cycles, so the dates of festivals vary slightly each year against the Gregorian calendar. The picture below is a scanned photograph of … Read more